Approved Venue Licensing
Are you the owner or manager of a hotel, stately home or other sought after venue looking to increase business opportunities. Yes? Have you considered licensing your venue to host civil marriage and other celebratory ceremonies. No, then read on: -
Warwickshire Registration Service is responsible for licensing venues for the performance of civil ceremonies. Currently, there are over 70 such venues licensed across Warwickshire offering a variety of settings, facilities and choice.
Warwickshire's approved premises licences enable the venue to host all civil ceremonies currently offered by the Registration Service. These are listed below:-
Marriage Ceremonies
Civil Partnership Ceremonies
Citizenship Ceremonies
Renewal of Marriage Vows Ceremonies
Naming Ceremonies
What Does It Cost To Licence my Venue?
The cost for applying between 1st April 2009 and 31st March 2010 will be £1800. The fee for additional rooms at a later date is £350
What do I Get For My Application Fee?
If your application is successful you will receive a licence, valid for 3 years which not only approves the venue for hosting all civil ceremonies (see above). Please note however that it is only nominated rooms within your premises that are approved and ceremonies must only take place in the approved rooms. It is advisable when making your application to approve as many rooms as possible as there is a cost for adding additional rooms at a later date.
How Long Will The Process Take & What Does The County Council Do?
If all runs smoothly the process should take approximately 6 weeks. The County Council will, as part of the process: -
- Send a representative of the Registration service to inspect the premises
- Liaise with the Fire & Rescue Service to ensure fire safety arrangements are satisfactory.
- Liaise with the Planning Authority to ensure any planning requirements are satisfied.
- Liaise with the Environmental Health Authority to ensure any safety issues are satisfied.
- Place a public notice in the local press advising that your premises is seeking approval and offering the opportunity to object to the granting of a licence. The County Council will investigate any objection raised but may still issue a Licence.
What are the Conditions attached to the Application?
Warwickshire County Council has a standard set of conditions applicable to all approvals. These can be downloaded by clicking this link.
Warwickshire County Council does however reserve the right to add any special conditions at any stage throughout the approval process.
What to Do Next
You can apply and pay for a licence online. Alternatively you can complete a paper application form using the attachment below. Whichever method you use, you will need to print out and sign your form and return it to us with: -
- A floor plan of the premises clearly showing the rooms to be approved
- A copy of the current public liability insurance certificate applicable to the premises (minimum £5m cover is requires)
- A cheque for the appropriate application fee (see above) made payable to Warwickshire County Council
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